Biodiversity Research Seminar Series (BRS)
BRS: Gideon Mordecai "Endangered wild salmon infected by newly discovered viruses"
October 30, 2019, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
host: Curtis Suttle, cookies provided by Rassim K. and Mackenzie UC.
abstract: The collapse of iconic, keystone populations of sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) and Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) salmon in the Northeast Pacific is of great concern. It is thought that infectious disease may contribute to declines, but little is known about infectious agents, especially viruses, endemic to Pacific salmon. By carrying out metatranscriptomic sequencing and surveillance of dead and moribund cultured Chinook salmon we have revealed several previously unknown viruses. Population surveys of wild and farmed salmon showed divergent distributions of these viruses, implying different epidemiological processes. The discovery in dead and dying farmed salmon of previously unrecognized viruses that are also widely distributed in wild salmon, emphasizes the potential role that viral disease may play in the population dynamics of wild fish stocks, and the potential threat that these viruses may pose to salmon health.